Free-agent outfielder Trot Nixon has agreed to a one-year, $3 million deal with the Cleveland Indians, ESPN.com's Peter Gammons reports.

Nixon, who has spent his entire pro baseball career with the Boston Red Sox organization and was popular with the team's fans for his gritty playing style, was not offered arbitration by the team after spending eight years as its starting right fielder.

In 982 career games, Nixon has a .278 batting average with 133 home runs and 523 RBIs. He hit .357 in Boston's four-game sweep of the St. Louis Cardinals in the 2004 World Series and delivered a key bases-clearing triple in Game 4.

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Trot Nixon. Really you are excited about this. Little background on Trot:

Has played 150 games ONCE.
Strikes out more than he walks.
homers ever 25 at bats.
Has never driven in 100 runs.
Scored 100 runs once.
Can't run.

All while playing in a left handed hitter's dream stadium on one of the best offenses in baseball. This is a difference maker? This is what we are accepting as an improvement? I would rather play Choo who can at least run. I take back all the negative comments about the rest of our winter, because this is BY FAR the worst signing yet.

WTF does veteran presence do for this team? If Grady/Pronk/Victor/CC/Blake/Jake/Byrd are not enough of a "veteran presence" then maybe our average 36 year old bullpen should be our veteran presence.

Our willingness to accept mediocrity under the vail of budget constraints is absolutely mindboggling.

I can't get too upset with the Nixon signing. It was for one year, and I have no problem taking a flyer on a player for one year. It allows you the felixibility to release the player without affecting future dollars.

Anyway, I like and hate this signing. What I like about it, is Nixon is he historically has hammered RHed pitching. And, even while he struggled the last three years, his splits against RHers were very good (.297 avg, .849 OPS). Also, he will push Choo (and the other young OFers). What I hate about the deal is that a young player like Choo may not make the team or will be traded.

For 2007, I like Nixon as your starting RFer against righties (Blake at 1B), and Blake in RF vs lefties (Vic or Garko at 1B).

BTW, in regard to Nixon's stats, he has always been somewhat of a platoon player in Boston. Always playing against the righties, and playing roughly half the time against lefties. So, don't take much from how many games he has played in a season or other numbers.

Also, Nixon has always been a patient hitter who draws walks. Over his career, his strikeout to walk ratio is very good.

Don't get me wrong though, I am not excited about this signing. But, I do not see the harm in bringing him in. If he sucks, you go with Choo. If he performs, we benefit.

As for a Gutierrez trade, I would expect a non-40 man player in return. Maybe a mid-tier prospect from the Marlins.

I like the platoon options. Someone from another board opined on it, and I thought what they said was spot on:

Moneyball is about finding traits that contribute more to team wins than the market currently pays for the trait. First it was OBP and college players that was undervalued, then when everyone stampeded to throw money at that, Beane shifted to speed and defense concurrent with steroid testing. You could make the case that Shapiro believes platooning is the next wave of undervalued talent that a Moneyball mind would identify. you can get the production level of a superstar at half the cost if you can spare the roster spaces. If the players have the versatility to move around the diamond well enough, and you have a few young cornerstones that will play 155+ games a year, you should be able to make it work. The championship Angels team (and to a minor extent, the White Sox champions) had a lot of players who could play multiple positions well, and did it without complaining, actually with enthusiasm.

Moneyball is about finding traits that contribute more to team wins than the market currently pays for the trait. First it was OBP and college players that was undervalued, then when everyone stampeded to throw money at that, Beane shifted to speed and defense concurrent with steroid testing. You could make the case that Shapiro believes platooning is the next wave of undervalued talent that a Moneyball mind would identify. you can get the production level of a superstar at half the cost if you can spare the roster spaces. If the players have the versatility to move around the diamond well enough, and you have a few young cornerstones that will play 155+ games a year, you should be able to make it work. The championship Angels team (and to a minor extent, the White Sox champions) had a lot of players who could play multiple positions well, and did it without complaining, actually with enthusiasm.

If this is really the plan, then they better find someone better than Eric Wedge to manage it. It also lends some credence to my idea that Shapiro's ego is what drives these moves more than Dolan's checkbook.

It does bug me that the Indians are going to be platooning at least three positions in '07 (LF, RF, and 1B). To me, platoon players are simply guys who are not good enough to play every day. Plus, it eats up spots on the roster.

But in the end, it will be pitching that determines the success/failure of the season. Starting pitching looks solid, bullpen still a huge question mark in my mind. They really need for someone to emerge in spring training and take over the closer job.

Consigliere wrote:I like the platoon options. Someone from another board opined on it, and I thought what they said was spot on:

Moneyball is about finding traits that contribute more to team wins than the market currently pays for the trait. First it was OBP and college players that was undervalued, then when everyone stampeded to throw money at that, Beane shifted to speed and defense concurrent with steroid testing. You could make the case that Shapiro believes platooning is the next wave of undervalued talent that a Moneyball mind would identify. you can get the production level of a superstar at half the cost if you can spare the roster spaces. If the players have the versatility to move around the diamond well enough, and you have a few young cornerstones that will play 155+ games a year, you should be able to make it work. The championship Angels team (and to a minor extent, the White Sox champions) had a lot of players who could play multiple positions well, and did it without complaining, actually with enthusiasm.

If Shapiro thinks he's finding some sort of new value in platooning he's about 20 years behind. Ever since Steiner and Roenicke that cat's been out of the bag. Let's cut the nonsense with the whole Moneyball deal. First and foremost it's about descisions. Billy Beane, for example, wouldn't have touched Jason Johnson or Paul Byrd with a ten foot pole.